AMD starts shipping 12-core Opterons

CHIPMAKER AMD is reporting that it is churning out and shipping its latest 8-core and 12-core processors, codenamed Magny Cours, to select OEMs and Ebay auctioneers.

Magny Cours or rather Opteron 61xx chips feature revised quad channel memory controllers and remain within the 75W power envelope occupied by their predecessors, the 6-core Istanbul chips. However the Opteron 61xx requires a new socket, the G34, so it won't be a drop-in upgrade like the step up from Shanghai to Istanbul was.

In order to meet this impressive power target, AMD has scaled back the clock speeds and reined in the core voltage. But none of this really matters as those who deploy these will jump for joy at the fact that their existing cooling solutions will be able to cope with twice the number of cores.

In a blog post, AMD's John Fruehe was positively gushing about his company's new toy, however his claim that AMD is supplying only "a few select end customers" couldn't have referred to an Ebay auction last week.

AMD is under pressure to get its latest Opterons into the hands of willing customers as Chipzilla is close to shipping the 8-core Nehelem EX processors now.

This certainly explains why Fruehe seemed so happy that AMD managed not to break its release schedule, but at the moment it seems that Ebay is the retailer of choice if you want of these chips. µ